Cigarette makers escaped major financial penalties on Thursday, even though a federal judge found them liable for violating racketeering laws in a decades-long conspiracy to hide the dangers of smoking.

US District Judge Gladys Kessler ruled that the group of tobacco companies had broken the law, but could not be forced to fund a multibillion-dollar quit-smoking campaign, as the government had sought. "Cigarette smoking causes disease, suffering, and death. Despite internal recognition of this fact, defendants have publicly denied, distorted, and minimised the hazards of smoking for decades," she said in the 1,653-page opinion.
Kessler said the companies suppressed research, destroyed documents and manipulated nicotine levels to perpetuate addiction, but an appeals court ruling prevented her from slapping the companies with costly remedies. She did impose some remedies, including ordering the companies to make "corrective" public statements about the health effects and addictiveness of smoking, and banning them from describing cigarettes in ways that convey health claims such as 'low tar' and 'light'.
Targeted in the 1999 lawsuit were Altria Group and its Philip Morris USA unit; Loews Corp's Lorillard Tobacco unit, which has a tracking stock, Carolina Group; Vector Group's Liggett Group; Reynolds American's RJ Reynolds Tobacco unit and British American Tobacco.
In a first response, Philip Morris USA and Altria said they will seek a review of the ruling. They had not yet decided whether to first seek further review in the trial court or appeal directly to the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The ruling was also seen as the last major hurdle to be cleared before Altria decides when it will spin off its Kraft Foods business. (pi)